For the first time in ten years, the Deer Dance Festival
was celebrated in August of 1989, in the Mopan Maya village of San Antonio
in the Toledo District of Belize. Several years ago, the traditional
costumes had been destroyed in a fire. Influenced by missionaries,
some Maya lost interest in the traditional festivals. But others
from both Mopan and Ketchi Mayan villages in the Toledo District, became
concerned about the loss of their cultural traditions and formed a group
which evolved into the Toledo Maya Cultural Council. The Council's
objectives are "to strengthen the concepts of indigenous and cultural rights
based upon the principle of equality and to ensure unity among the Maya
of Toledo." In 1987, the Council obtained a grant from Video Incorporated,
a broadcast company, to make new masks and costumes and to perform the
dance for video taping, but they did not hold the entire festival that
year.

I had visited San Antonio, a village of nearly
2,000 people, twice before. Bol's Hilltop Hotel overlooks the entire
valley and the villagers are eager to tell visitors of the Mayan way of
life. When I learned the Deer Dancers would be dancing from the 15th
of August until the Festival of San Luis on the 25th, I planned to visit.

I was not especially interested in what I thought
was a separate, Catholic celebration on the 25th. With my Western
analytical and cultural bias, I expected to dissect the ritual into its
ancient Maya and Spanish-influenced components. I was in for a great
cultural awakening! I found the traditional Deer Dance, the statues
of the two saints, San Antonio and San Luis, a greased pole (money
tree) and the Catholic Church, all integrated into one coherent festival
which represents the Mayan culture as it exists today.

The village of San Antonio was established
about a century ago when refugees fleeing the Guatemalan army came from
San Luis, Guatemala. Though they brought along the statue of their
patron saint, San Luis, they named their new village San Antonio, said
to be his younger brother. These two Catholic saints probably represent
ancient Mayan gods, but also seem to personify the two villages - their
old home San Luis, Guatemala, and the new home, San Antonio, Belize.

Mayan society is a cooperative community emphasizing
equal status of all persons. There is a minimum of hierarchy in the
political structure as positions of leadership are passed around from year
to year. I met the alcalde, the leader of the village, and requested
permission to photograph the festival and write an article. He referred
me to one of the nine priostes, a position somewhere between priest and
presiding officer, who gave me permission and explained the festival.
During the nine days of the festival, each of the nine priostes, in turn,
hosts the entire village for one day of the novena, the dancing and feasting.
That family is responsible for the food for the whole community for that
day, a considerable expense.

The roles of men and women are sharply defined,
but given equal respect. The day before the novena, men come to help
butcher the pig, while the novena is going on at another house. The
women make a sweet, yeast bread and shuck the corn, which is boiled in
lime that has been extracted from snail shells. On the day of the
novena, many women arrive early to carry water from the river, grind the
corn, make the tortillas, cook the meat stew, make coffee, and grind cacao
for a drink made from cacao, black pepper and sugar.

On the days which include an all-night vigil,
this work goes on from early morning until the midnight meal. As
I learned to make tortillas, I saw how hard the women worked. The
corn grinding seemed endless! But, as they worked, they laughed and
joked, sometimes at my lopsided tortillas. They have little time
for visiting in their normal daily routine, so this was a welcome celebration.
During some of the all-night vigils, there was social dancing to the lively
music of the marimba, alternating with a quartet playing violin, mandolin,
harp, and drum. The large sound box on which the harp was mounted
served as the drum and was hit with the drummer's fists.

The Festival began with an all-night vigil
in which there was no dancing. The masks and costumes were blessed
with the smoke from burning copal (incense) and given food offerings.
The Maya believe there is great power in the masks that can be directed
for good or ill, so the blessing and the daily return to the church to
light candles and pray are to satisfy the masks so they will not be angry.

Each day the sound of the drum announced the
procession to the home of the prioste for that day. Leading the procession
was the Holy Deer, followed by the other characters of the dance, two marimbas,
one of which was carried by four men as three men played. This marimba
was placed inside the prioste's house and played during breaks in the ceremonial
dancing which was held outside.

The other marimba was used only for the ceremonial
dancing and was played by one man, the director of the event. There
were twelve dancers, in two lines of six, which face the marimba.
Each dancer was paired with a partner in the other line. Those in
the left line were said to be the older brothers or sisters of those in
the right line. Heading the lines were two men in red, then the Holy
Deer on the left and the tiger (jaguar) on the right, followed by another
pair of men in red, the women (played by men), the dogs and, finally, the
hunters, who were dressed in black. The men in red and the hunters
also played rattles and chanted, adding to the music of the dance.

The dance consisted of a chorus repeated between
the figures which told the stories. The entire sequence was repeated
each day, beginning in mid morning and finishing by late afternoon, in
the hot sun. The figures used the four corners and the center of
the space between the two lines, representing the five Maya cardinal directions
- north, south, east, west, and the center.

The story of the tiger began with the
tiger dancing around the center and around each of the other dancers.
The tiger then chased and was chased by each of the four men in red from
each of the four corners and around the center. Perhaps they represent
the bacabs, the Maya guardians of the directions. The tiger played
the clown, improvising and teasing the hunters throughout the dance, stealing
their hats or their rattles. Finally, the tiger was captured and
the dancer stepped out of the skin of his costume and out of the dance.
The hunters pantomimed the killing and skinning of the tiger.

The story of the Holy Deer was danced with
reverence instead of comedy. The Holy Deer danced grandly around,
acknowledging the other dancers and then ran away to hide in the woods.
The hunters sent their dogs after him. Eventually, the Holy Deer
came back, chased by the dogs and the hunters captured the skin as the
dancer slipped out of it. The hunters killed the deer, skinned it,
and gave it to the women to end the dance.

The preparations for the finale started two
days before with an all-night vigil for the men who were to cut the tree
for the greased pole. At the senior prioste's house, an alter was
made for San Luis, and the prize to be place at the top of the pole, was
hung on the alter. This colorful sculpture was made of bananas, a
bottle of rum, and money.

The tree was cut and trimmed the next
day, and the dancing continued, drawing larger and larger audiences.
A great procession followed as the huge pole was carried up the hill to
the church. Halfway up the hill, and again at the top of the hill,
the pole was put down and blessed by the statue of San Antonio, the dancers,
and the women who carried the burning copal. San Antonio was then
returned to his place in the church, more prayers were said, and the statue
of San Luis, flanked by a dozen flags, was taken out under a canopy to
bless the pole. The pole was left at the top of the hill and the
procession, including San Luis, went to the senior prioste's house for
another night of social dancing and feasting.

On the morning of the 25th, preparations for
raising the pole began to the steady, dramatic beat of the drum.
The men cut grooves for the support ropes and the prize, and constructed
a cradle in the hole where the pole would be raised. The pole was
about 60 feet long and made from a tree called sayuc in Mopan Maya.
Its massive size made the logistics very important, for any mistake could
cause a serious accident. Twenty-four bars of soap were flattened
with rocks, broken into small pieces, and dissolved in three buckets of
water. Melted lard was then added. Once the slippery concoction
was well-mixed, it was used to grease the pole.

The Deer Dance began with the Holy Deer story.
When the Holy Deer ran away to hide, the whole procession went to the home
of the senior prioste where San Luis was in residence on his altar.
They ate a meal there and then came back in a grand finale procession with
the saint under his canopy, flanked by the flags. It was, after all,
his birthday. The greased pole was then blessed again by San Luis,
by the dancers, and by the women with burning copal.

The pole raising was the most dramatic event
I have ever witnessed. To the steady beat of the drums and with the
added drama of an approaching thunderstorm, fifty men holding ropes
and five holding forked sticks began to lift the pole. There were
several false starts, after which adjustments were made. Two more
ropes were added; the forked sticks were repositioned; and some of the
grease was taken off the pole because the forked sticks kept slipping.

Finally, the pole began to go up. One
of the forked sticks broke, but men holding the remaining four gradually
raised the pole, moving the sticks in turn to a point lower on the pole.
Suddenly, the weight of the pole left the sticks and was held only by the
ropes. The men holding the forked sticks dropped them and ran.
The men with the ropes took over, pulling in all directions. The
giant pole swayed dangerously. The breathless crowd watched as the
pole righted itself and finally settled into the hole.

The tiger and the hunters were the first to
attempt to climb the pole and then a dozen other men tried. Even
with the support of a forked stick under their feet, which were tied together,
none got more than one-third of the way up. Several more tried and
climbed half way before they, too gave up. When the successful challenger
started, his manner was different, more determined. As he reached
for his prize at the top of the pole, the church bells rang out.

While this was going on, the Deer Dance continued.
The tiger ran away, climbed a tree, and was brought down by the hunters
with bows and arrows. After the hunters captured the Holy Deer, the
women hung the Holy Deer skin on a small replica of the greased pole, as
if it were the prize at the top of the pole.

I asked the about the meaning of the festival
and was told that it was simply for fun and enjoyment, but the villagers'
belief in the power of the masks indicated a much deeper reason.
When pressed, some said the deer represented the people of San Antonio
being chased by the Guatemalan army - but the dance is older than that.
Others suggest it was about the Spanish conquest five hundred years ago.
Even that seems too recent. Then I was told that it was about the
Maya as hunters and the way they related to the animals they hunted.
This was closer to the symbolism I wanted to believe after watching the
dance. Whatever it means, the Deer Dance Festival says much about
current Maya culture and about the generosity and cooperation of a community
celebration. The Maya culture is only one of several distinct cultural
traditions of Belize, a country that values the preservation of its people's
diversity.